A set of American clichés: the film Man Called Otto starring Tom Hanks
Again she cried bitter tears. All because of an old, lonely widower with a genetic heart defect, pedantic and law-abiding to the extreme. He gives nightmares to neighbors, drives store clerks, city services, and generally everyone who comes to hand into hysterics. He buried his wife, who died of cancer. Previously, she had been paralyzed for 40 years after a car accident in which she lost her child late in her pregnancy. The old man's only social circle was his neighbors: an African-American elderly couple in a wheelchair, a housewife with Parkinson's, a helpless pregnant Mexican woman with her husband on crutches and two children. It is not surprising that the grumpy old man finds no consolation and makes several attempts to take his own life. But they all end in failure, and once even in saving the life of another person who fell under a train before our character. As a result of this, he becomes a hero of social networks, where likes are gained not by pumped-up body parts, but by a brave, unattractive grandfather. He lets a transgender teenage mailman live in his townhouse after his dad kicked him out of the house and now has to work three jobs. A pregnant Mexican mother with three degrees from American universities and her two children have gotten into the soul of a nasty neighbor, he is happy to teach her how to drive and babysit girls. A meticulous grandfather exposes black realtors and prevents his sick friends from being evicted from their home to specialized medical institutions, and a blogger helps him with this. He also always touchingly fiddles with the silver quarter that came to him the day he met his wife 50 years ago.
If you are not already bursting into tears, then I will continue. This widower is 66-year-old Tom Hanks (this is where you can cry, because he really is very old), he plays the role of Otto in the film Man Called Otto. The film, which has a high rating of 7.5 on Imdb, is a concentrated set of American clichés. I transferred only 10 percent. Oh yeah, I forgot that Tom Hanks dies at the end. With a cat! Here, of course, they have already reached their trump card. The film's producers' blatant and cheap manipulations with cats, old Tom Hanks, and a rejected transgender teenager did their job - they brought me to tears. But I don’t advise you to waste your time on this movie. Only if you need to test your companion for empathy. His beloved failed the test and laughed, because in his understanding it was a parody of American cinema, which some took seriously.
Author: Yunia Pugacheva
